Good Evening Denizens of the Deep End,

Happy 4th of July Week! It is a fairly quiet week outside of the big bang at the end. So this is a perfect time to take a little break and set up the rest of the season. Once we come out of this holiday week things start moving quickly. So I'll use this time to set up the rest of the season and make sure we are rolling in the right direction. 

First, the only change to this week's schedule will be on Friday. There is no practice or Fun Friday event since, well, it will already be a very fun Friday at the pools without the swim team. I do always love to see swim team representation at the 4th of July festivities. I will be there forcing everyone to listen to me again this year and the lifegaurds have been talking quite a bit of trash already about their relay. Until Friday, there are no changes to our schedule and practices will go on as schedule Monday through Thursday.

A Divisional Relays Rescheduled

The relay meet that was postponed due to the storms on Thursday night will now be on the evening of Thursday, July 10th. The meet will still be at Columbia CC and at the same time (5:15PM warm up, 6:30PM start). This next part is very important:

I have created the rescheduled meet on our meet calendar. Please make sure to go in and mark your availability now. This is a completely new meet and will not reflect any availability you have marked up to this point in the season.

The lineup may change due to different people being available and the meet on the 8th. So please make sure to mark your availability before Sunday, July 6th so that we can redo the lineup. 

The Rest Of The Meets

We have quite a few different meets through the rest of the season. I want to go over what some of them are to help everyone with planning. Before I do that, I will make another plea to please go in and mark your availability as far in advance as you are able. Even if you believe it may not be a meet for your swimmer. 

A Meets

@ Kenwood on 7/8, @ Columbia on 7/15, and vs. Congressional on 7/17

These will be the same format as the Washington Golf meet we had last Tuesday. All swimmers who are marked as available will be entered in at least freestyle. The coaches will work together to add as many exhibition heats as we can for swimmers.

Coaches will choose events for these meets. 

Developmental Meets

Squirt Gun @ Belle Haven 7/12 and Jammies and Jammers @ ANCC 7/19

Squirt Gun is a tri-meet between Army Navy, Washington Golf, and Belle Haven. It is only for 10&U swimmers and swimmers should only enter events they have not placed in during a meet throughout the season. It is a great opportunity for our littles to get some racing in and have a good time. 

Jammies and Jammers will be another 10&U meet with just Army Navy swimmers including our Junior Team friends. Much like the Duckies & Donuts meet we had this past weekend, but we will be at the Arlington Campus. 

Parents will be able to choose events for their swimmers, but coaches may adjust as necessary.

SuperNoVa

@ Army Navy 7/23

SuperNoVa is another tri-meet between the three Virginia teams in CCSDA. This one is for all ages and will come after our A Division Championship Meet. This meet is a last chance meet for some racing for all those swimmers who did not compete at Divisionals and will not be competing the following week at Champs. It is always followed by a fairly lively dinner as well.

Coaches will choose events for this meet based on those eligible.

A Division Championship Meet

@ Washington Golf 7/22

Divisionals, as it is more colloquially known, is a meet between the five A division teams (Army Navy, Columbia, Congressional, Kenwood, and Washington Golf). Each team may enter 2 swimmers and one exhibition swimmer in each event and each swimmer may swim up to 3 individual events. This is obviously a very competitive meet and one in which we would like to improve on our 3rd place finish from last season. 

CCSDA Championships

@ Lakewood 7/28-29

Champs is the end-all-be-all of the league. It decides division structure and crowns the champion for the next calendar year (not sure if you heard, but that's us!). Each team may enter 2 swimmers in each event, but unlike Divisionals, swimmers may only enter 2 individual events for the meet. This means that there are some idiosyncratic situations in which a swimmer will compete at Champs who did not compete at Divisionals. 

Monday 7/28 will be the prelims sessions with the 10&U swimmers in the morning and the 11&O swimmers in the afternoon. Then Tuesday 7/29 will be finals for all swimmers who finish top 16 in each event (spoiler alert, we had 87 of our 88 swims return for finals last year, so plan to make it back if you are chosen for Champs). Also, finals starts with the team parade where we parade around the pool and do our cheers. It is always great to have as many of the Army Navy troops on deck with us as possible.

Both Divisionals and Champs are meets that all swimmers on the team are strongly encouraged to attend. In addition, for those that don't know coach Megan and I as well yet, we are what some might refer to as swim nerds. We like to work on these lineups throughout the season. Given that it is very helpful to have a full accounting of who is available as early as possible. So please make sure to mark your swimmers' availability all the way through Divisionals and Champs even if you do not think they would be swimming in those meets. 

Now that you know everything you need to know for the rest of the season, you can sit back, relax, and enjoy your 4th of July week any way you like. 

From the Deck, 

Coach Ian